Upshernish Unites Serbian Jews

Over 150 Jews packed a party hall in the five-star Continental Hotel Belgrade, located in the New Belgrade area of the City of Belgrade, Serbia, for a Jewish celebration that is not seen every day.

Men and women gathered for the festive occasion of the upshernish of the young Mendy Kaminetzky, son of Rabbi Yehoshua and Miri Kaminetzky, co-directors of Chabad Lubavitch of Serbia.

It has been decades since an upshernish ceremony for a 3 year-old boy took place in the Balkan country.

Among the leaders of the local community were Aleksandar Necak, President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Serbia, Prof. Dr. Jovan Elazar, President of Jewish Community in Belgrade and others.

Fellow Chabad Shluchim from neighboring cities and countries came to partake in the simcha, including Rabbi Shmuel Raskin of Budapest, Rabbi Yossi Solomon of Bulgaria, Rabbi Pini Zaklos of Croatia, Rabbi Dan Krichevsky of Upa, Russia, and others.

Also in attendance were the boy’s two proud grandfathers, R’ Yosef Yitzchak Kaminetzky and R’ Shlomo Fleishman.